Taking part:
Vojislav Bubiša Simić
Vitomir Simurdić
ALEKSANDAR DUJIN ORCHESTRA
Vojislav Bubiša Simić
Vojislav Bubiša Simić, a composer and conductor, born in 1924 in Belgrade, where he graduated from the 2nd Grammar School for Boys and the Music Academy (Faculty of Music Art). After the war, he founded the amateur jazz orchestra ‘DINAMO’, the first big band in Serbia. From 1953 to 1985 he was the conductor of the RTV Belgrade Jazz Orchestra, with which he toured throughout Europe with great success, most notably the First Prize at the Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival in France in 1960. He was a regular guest-conductor at the Terazije Theatre. He has conducted choirs and symphonic orchestras, written expert articles on music and music reviews, as well as travel stories. He has written a number of compositions of various genres. He has been the president of the Composers’ Association of Serbia, as well as the Association of Jazz Musicians. He has received many awards and recognitions: Order of Labour with Golden Wreath and the Order for Merits for the People with Silver Rays, The Culture Award of the City of Belgrade ‘Zlatni beočug’, RTV Serbia Life Achievement Award, Jazz Festival ‘Nishwille’ Life Achievement Award, as well as the October Award of the City of Belgrade. He is married, with two daughters and three grandchildren. He lives in Belgrade.
Vojislav Bubiša Simić has published the books: Susreti i sećanja (Meetings and Memories, 2005); Veselo putovanje (A Joyful Journey, 2007) and Sentimentalno putovanje (A Sentimental Journey, 2011).
ALEKSANDAR DUJIN ORKESTRA – ‘Ponekad u osam’ (Sometimes at Eight)
For ten years, Aleksandar Dujin, together with his orchestra, has been promoting the concept of ‘Multicultural Education through Music’ throughout Vojvodina.
The project has included the following topics so far: Latin music ‘Latin Moments’, jazz evergreen music ‘Jazz Vocal Classic’, French chanson ‘La Chanson’, Italian music ‘Canzone’, original music by A. Dujin ‘Drvena bajka’ and selected Yugoslav schlagers (entertainer music) ‘Ponekad u osam’.
Each of the topics was aimed at familiarising the young with music and musical trends present on the world music scene in the last 50 years, and to remind the older generation of the music they grew up with.
‘Ponekad u osam’ (allusion to the song ‘Zvižduk u osam’ – Whistle at Eight) is a concept that fits into the presentation of the book by Vojislav Bubuša Simić which focuses on the very music the project includes, so the appearance of the Aleksandar Dujin Orchestra complements the author’s stories and revives the past it belonged to for a moment.
The Aleksandar Dujin Orchestra consists of: Nevena Reljin, vocal; Zoran Šandorov, vocal; Aleksandar Dujin, piano; Vojislav Savkov, saxophone; Vladimir Jakovljević, guitar; Fedor Ruškuc, double bass and Robert Pongo, drums.
In Novi Sad, 31. 10. 2014 Aleksandar Dujin
Aleksandar Dujin
Composer, arranger and pianist Aleksandar Dujin (1959) was one of the most popular, best-known, promising pianists even before he completed his piano studies at the Conservatoire in Vienna (class of Prof. Fritz Pauer) He plays different music styles ranging from jazz rock to acoustic cool jazz, acid-ethno jazz, vocal and Big Band music, which is evident from his discography which includes: California, album of his original instrumental jazz-rock music (1987); ADO ADO, acoustic, cool-jazz; (authors: Aleksandar Dujin and Stefan Pelzl, 1992); Wheelz Around the World acid-ethno jazz (authors: Aleksandar Dujin and Stefan Zaradić, 1992-1996); Funk & Soul (vocal, big band music, with seven covers and two original numbers, 1995); Smooth Jazz Vol. I – featuring 6 original instrumental compositions and 2 covers of vocal compositions (1999) and Vojvođanske impresije (2003). On 22 October 2006, Aleksandar Dujin celebrated the 30th anniversary of his artistic engagement. Since 2006 he has been the editor of the music programme for the international Camp of Tolerance in Bačka Topola. In 2010 he carried out the project Multicultural Education through Music in Vojvodina, Hungary and Austria. In 2011 and 2012 he was the organiser and editor of the programme Green Town Jazz Fest in Sombor; author, music editor and executor of the project Dunavska Saletla – Mala novosadska muzička scena, in Danube Park in Novi Sad, the venue which has accommodated 176 concerts and 956 musicians in two years. He lectured at the Summer Jazz Academy Novi Sad – Dortmund in 2011, and in 2012 he was the music editor of the first Jazz Open Air, jazz event at the Petrovaradin Fortress, Novi Sad. He has been a member of the Novi Sad Jazz Festival Council since the beginning. The Aleksandar Dujin Orkestra has performed three times (2001, 2006 and 2008) within the main programme of the Novi Sad Jazz Festival.